Red Cabbage

This is an excellent winter vegetable to have with casserole of pheasant.
Ingredients
1 red cabbage
2-3 cooking apples
2 or 3 large onions
1-2 tablespoons brown sugar
sherry glass of wine vinegar
What to do
Chop cabbage into 1/4s remove stalk and slice the apples and onions.
Put a layer of cabbage in the saucepan followed by a layer of onions, apples, brown sugar and seasoning. Repeat until you have used up all the vegetables. Pour over the wine vinegar. Cook on a low heat and stir frequently.

Pumpkin Chutney

Pumpkin Chutney is a great accompaniment for all sorts of dishes. I like it on a ploughman’s lunch with good cheddar cheese and homemade bread.

Ingredients
21/2 lbs pumpkin
1lb tomatoes
1/2 ib onions
2oz sultanas
3/4 lb soft dark brown sugar
3/4 ibs caster sugar
salt
2 teaspoons ground ginger, black peppar and allspice,
2 cloves of garlic
1 pint wine vinegar or cider vinegar
What to do
Peel pumpkin, discard seeds and the pith. SLice and cut in pieces. Pour boiling water over tomatoes skin and slice. Peel and slice onions and garlic.
Put all solid ingredients including spices and sugar in the pan. Add vinegar. Boil gently and cook until the mixture is jammy. It will take about 50 minutes, stir frequently and skim.

Pumpkin Curry

Pumpkin

Originally uploaded by Mr_Chips

I love growing pumpkins although rarely successful and this year’s crop was lamentable. About 8 small sized pumpkins was the result of immense effort with many seedlings. I like to grow giant ones and all sorts of strange shaped squashes. The dreams in March are immense but all I end up with is a few orange ones as usual.
Anyway, I made this wonderful pumpkin curry. I mix and match the curry specifications with whatever comes to hand so don’t worry too much about exact measurements. I also added some leaks to the recipe below just because I had some. Careful with the chilies. I got the mixture in my mouth and eyes which is very painful especially wearing contact lens. Serve the dish with rice and drink cider or lager to take the pain away. yoghurt is good for cooling the effects of the chilly and curry.
I love the colour of pumpkins and prefer cooking it as a savoury dish rather than the american way. I also don’t like the festival of haloween but it does mean you can buy very cheap pumpkins in the shops after the 1st November if your own harvest fails.
Ingredients
1 onion
garlic cloves
2 teaspoons of ginger
1 teaspoon coriander
1/2 teaspoon cumin
1/2 teaspoon ground tumeric
2 tablespoons curry paste
1 1/4 lb of pumpkin chopped up into small pieces
1 tin of chopped tomatoes
vegetable stock
1 can chickpeas
2 chilies
1 large banana

What to do
Fry the onion, chilies and ginger in some oil in one pan add the spices and leave for while until the onion is soft.
Put the pumpkin pieces in a bowl and cover with the curry paste. Fry in some olive oil in another pan.
Add the tomatoes, chilies and stock to the onions. Add the pumkin mix and cook for about 20 minutes. Towards the end, add the banana. Serve with rice and yoghut.

Lemon Drizzle Cake

Lemon Drizzle Cake

Originally uploaded by Mr_Chips

This is a wonderful light cake that my mother makes. It is simple to make and very heart warming.
Ingredients
250 g unsalted butter
250g castor sugar
4 large eggs
zest of a lemon
250 g self -raising flour
8 tablespoons milk.
For the syrup
juice of 3 lemons and 200g icing sugar

Cream the sugar and buuter. Add the eggs with a little of the flour add the meon zest. Fold the flour into the mixture with milk. Spoon into a cake tin and cook at about 180C for about 45 minutes.
Syrup
Prepare the syrup whilst the cake is cooking and enjoy a cup of tea. Just put the lemon juice into a suacepan with the icing sugar and heat until the sugar disolves. When the cake is done, spike the top with a skewer and pour the syrup over the top to soak in. Leave in the tin until the cake is cooled.

Crab Apple Jelly

Apples

Originally uploaded by Mr_Chips

Crab Apple Jelly
I am always amazed at the sight of wild crab apples hanging from autumnal branches in the woods where you least expect to see apples. Sometimes there is the sad site of a tree that has lost its load and there is a carpet of apples at its feet. Slowing fermenting in the late indian summer or being nibbled by muntjac deer. Too sour to eat raw they make a lovely jelly and combined with a few sloes or rosehips to add a red glow they form a work of art with the sun glinting through them on the kitchen shelf.

This is a delicious jelly to eat with lamb but can be a useful accompaniment to many dishes. The addition of sloes or rosehips will add a pleasant tinge of red to the jelly. You could also try cranberries. You could leave out the rosemary for a plainer version. You can also add a pint of cider vinegar which gives the jelly a bit of a kick.
Ingredients
A big bag of crab apples
2 hand fuls of rosehips or sloes
You will need to measure the resulting juices but about 3Ibs of sugar for 3 pints of liquid but this will depend on how much you obtain from your apples.
Sprigs of rosemary.

Every pint of liquid use a lb of sugar
Collect a bag of wild crab apples avoiding heavily bruised ones. About 3 lb.
Wash the apples and chop into quarters. Put them in a preserving pan and cover with water. Then cook until they all go soft and mash them up a bit with a wooden spoon.
Cook up the rosehips or sloes in a separate pan with water and cook until they go mushy and then add the mush to the main mix.
Pour all the mix into a jelly bag and leave overnight for the juice to drip out. You are left with a clear juice.
Simmer the liquid in a pan (about 20 minutes) with the sprigs of resemary to create an infusion then strain back into the preserving pan.
Measure the liquid and then add 1 lbs of sugar for every pint of liquid. Boil rapidly until a set is obtained. The sound of boiling will change and it goes frothy on top. Use a saucer from the freezer to test the set by putting a dropof the liquid back in the freezer for a minute or two to cool. Test to see if it has set.
Skim the liquid and then pour into heated jars. As they cool put a fresh sprig of rosemary into each jar for decoration.

Use your loaf

Use your loaf

Originally uploaded by Mr_Chips

I always make my own bread but one of my contacts on Flickr-Falling Sky- posted his results of using a recipe from the Guardian. I tried it out and was impressed by the taste and airy nature of the final loaf. It uses the sponge method of soaking half the flour in the water and yeast for several hours. By a strange coincidence there was a TV programme on just this topic last night- The Hairy Bakers.
I have adapted my own recipe to make a batch of 3 loaves using the Kenwood mixer with dough hook.
Ingredients
For the sponge:
1 1/2 Ibs of strong white flour.
2-3 level teaspoons of dried yeast.
1 1/2 pints of warm water

For the dough
1 1/2 Ibs of strong wholemeal flour
1 teaspoon of salt
2 oz of butter.
Put the water in the large mixing bowl and add the yeast. Add the flour and give it a quick blitz with the dough hook to stir it up. Leave for several hours with a tea towel over the top. This is the sponge and it will rise up as the yeast gets to work.
When ready, rub the butter into the second half of the flour – I like some wholemeal mixed in but you can use all white. Mix into the sponge and it may be necessary to add a little more water to create a sticky mix. Leave again and give it a quick knead with the dough hook 30 minutes later. Leave for another 30 minutes and then take out and knead on a surface until its nice and smooth. Don’t add too much flour to stop it sticking. You can oil the board if you want. Then shape and put in to the bread tins. Leave again until they have doubled in size in the tins. Brush the tops with milk and sprinkle with sesame seeds.
Bake in a hot oven – 200C in my fan assisted oven for 30 minutes does the trick. Tap the bottoms and they should sound hollow.

Blackcurrant sorbet

Blackcurrants

Originally uploaded by Mr_Chips

It is a shame that redcurrants and blackcurrants come to fruition at the same time! This weekend has been a frantic cooking time.
The blackcurrants are difficult to pick. They hide away beneath the leaves but we got two huge bowls full. There are various methods for making sorbet but this is mine.
Ingredients
Blackcurrants 1 large bowl
1 pint water
12 oz castor sugar
Lemon juice and zest.

I wash the berries first. To release the juices, I put them – berries and stalks in the preserving pan with a little water and heat. This helps get some of the juices going but there is nothing for it. You have to put the lot through the sieve and mash the juices out. This is hard work and you have to be careful otherwise the kitchen looks like a chain-saw masacre. The juices can get everywhere! Just do a little at a time.
I make up a syrup with 1 pint of water and 12 oz castor sugar, add the lemon juice and zest and boil for a few minutes. Cool.
Mix the blackcurrant juice and syrup. I use half and half and then taste. It is a fine balance between having the sorbet too tart or too sugary.
Put in the fridge to cool and then pour into the ice -cream maker for about 15 minutes until slushy. If you haven’t got an ice-cream maker then put in a container into the freezer and stir the mixture up every 1/2 hour or so to stop ice crystals forming.

The effort is worth it. This is one of the best sorbets with an intense flavour.

Redcurrant Jelly Recipe

Redcurrant jelly

Originally uploaded by Mr_Chips

I love to use redcurrant jelly as an accompaniment to lamb and pheasant and this is the time of the year to make it.
Picking the redcurrants is quite a job because they hide away under the leaves. You can strip them off easily once you find them, stalks and all. You need quite a lot and we managed about 4 bowls of currants and ended up with – well, you will have to see.
Ingredients
Redcurrants this recipe is for 4 large bowls about 4 lb.
Castor sugar
Water
Wash the redcurrants and put them in a large preserving pan with about a 1 pint of water. Heat gently to release the juice and stir frequently. Cool. Pour everything into a jelly bag and hang it up over a bowl overnight. In them morning, make yourself a strong cup of tea and inspect the bowl. It doesn’t look much but you should have a lovely deep red juice. Measure it. I got 1 1/4 pints. I added 1 1/4 lbs of sugar. In other words – the same amount of sugar in lbs weight.
Put back into the preserving pan and stir with the sugar and boil. I tested the set by keeping some saucers in the freezer. I then put a drop on the saucer and put back in the freezer to cool for a moment or tro. Run your finger through and it should be jelly like. If not – keep boiling. Finally, cool and add to warmed jars.
How much did I make? From 4 large bowls of redcurrants we made 5 small jars of jelly. It seems a lot of effort for a small amount but it goes a long way and is delicious.

Apricots

Apricots

Originally uploaded by Mr_Chips

A day for some recipes. What does the Ravenous Rambler have for breakfast when in France?
First a bowl of fruit, yoghurt and honey. In this region of the Pyrenees, there are many fresh apricots that are in seasons and these chopped up with some white peaches make a good mixture with yoghurt and local honey.
The tourist information in Axar has a food of the region annexe and there are about twenty different honey to choose from. They have thoughtfully laid out a tasting table where with the use of disposable spatulas you can taste many of the honeys from the mild to the very strong. There was my favourtite, acacia and lavender, then chestnut honey which was far too strong for my liking.
Earlier in the morning I went to the boulangerie to collect our daily order of baguette and croissants and we usually polish off the croissant and apricot jam with a pot of coffee to complete the perfect rambling breakfast.
Apricot pudding

Ingredients
Apricots and plums
Sugar
Lemon juice
Rum
pistachios
I found this recipe in a French magazine and have adapted it for my own pleasure.
Marinade the fruit in the lemon juice, sugar and rum ( I had to substitute this with white wine) for about 30 minutes. I boiled up the mixture for a minute or two. Put the fruit on skewers and place them on the barbecue for a minute or two to char slightly and decorate with the pistachios.
I served with with yoghurt of course and I must say it was rather delicious.

The etiquette of paths and mussels

Lenticular clouds in the Pyrenees

Originally uploaded by Mr_Chips

Well it was up early with the croissants and off to explore some chateaux under a rather grey sky. I am loathe to admit, whilst on holiday in the South of France, that it had been raining during the night but yes the morning was distinctly miserable and several cups of tea did nothing to shift the misery.

First stop was the Chateau de Queribus and it was still early so not too many people about. The road winds up the hill near the village of Cucugan. It was a refuge for Cathar deacons as late as 1241 and was eventually made into a royal palace. The site itself is a spectacular hill fortress and the path winds up the side and one is blown away by the wind that wraps itself around the hill as I reached the gateway. It was a struggle to pull myself up the final steps and then you feel safe within the castle walls. If I was part of a marauding enemy, of course, I would feel anything but safe as the arrow slits are lined up for a ‘shoot to kill’ policy and the usual traps over the gateways where they could pour boiling hot tea down onto your head. Not my sort of welcome.

It is hard to believe that this castle could have been built on such a high point of a mountain but stands here it does and there are a whole load of stairways and passages to explore and magnificent views out across the Rousillon plain. The mountains of Canigou were pushing their tops into the cloud cover and I imagine it would look wonderful in the depths of winter.

Back at the kiosk we had one of the worst cups of coffee that France has ever produced before retiring to the car for the croissants and a chance to admire the beautiful lenticular clouds that were hanging around over the hills. They are formed from the air moving in a wave like flow over the mountain tops and produce the wonderfully smooth clouds that look like martian flying saucers in the sky. Such peaceful thoughts were interrupted by two coaches arriving and discouraging hundreds of people. I wondered how many of them would notice the lenticular clouds?

On to Aguilar Chateau and there was no one there so we could have a really good look round this lovely small fort outpost set amongst some vineyards over the plains of Tuchen.

Finally, and there are only so many chateaux you can take in a day, to the Royal Fortress of Peyrepertuse. This was the biggest so far and very popular. This is a real ‘Buy one, get one free’ as it consists of two castles but maybe that’s why they charge almost twice the admission price of a normal castle! According to the blurb, it’s, ‘ an essential element in the French Kingdom’s defense system against Aragon’. It occurs to me that then they had the crusades and now we have the ‘war on terror’. Nothing much has changed. They had the Spanish Inquisition and we have tube bombers.

There are many narrow paths around the Chateau of Peyrepertuse and this means that one is continually having to give way to people on narrow staircases, let people overtake or overtake others if I consider they are going too slow. I never like this mixing with so many people and inevitably I get very annoyed by just these other people and their lack of politeness. People who tread hard on your heels, then when you turn round and say, ‘après vous’, they say decline and say, ‘non, ‘après VOUS’, but then they still stay hard on your heels and you think what are they up to? Then there are others who are walking towards you on a narrow ledge so when I stand aside to let them pass, they look through you and don’t say a word. I wish I hadn’t bothered!

Mussels

Originally uploaded by Mr_Chips

This evening we cooked fresh moule marinere.

Ingredients

Lots of mussels

Onions or shallots,

White wine

Melt the chopped onions in some butter and add the wine. Clean up the mussels and remove any ‘beard’ like attachments. Throw away any mussels that are open.

Heat up the onion and wine mixture until boiling in a large pan , add the mussels and put the lid on to steam them. After about 5-10 minutes most of them will have opened. Eat them from the pan, using one mussel as a pair of tweezers. Eat with fresh bread and dip the bread into the ‘soup’. Throw away any mussels that are closed.

Delicious with a glass of Fitou red wine.